Joliet-area man charged with arson in explosion that leveled home

Will County Sheriff's office

James Borg, 44, has been charged with aggravated arson and residential arson in a July 14 fire that caused a home he had rented with his now-missing girlfriend to explode.

James Borg, 44, has been charged with aggravated arson and residential arson in a July 14 fire that caused a home he had rented with his now-missing girlfriend to explode. (Will County Sheriff's office)

Staff report

A man found in July in the wreckage of the home he had shared with his missing girlfriend before she disappeared was arrested today as he left the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and charged with arson in the explosion, authorities said.

James J. Borg, formerly of the 100 block of South East Circle Drive in Joliet Township, was arrested about 11 a.m. today as he left the Rehab Institute, 345 E. Superior St., and has been charged with aggravated arson and residential arson, according to a release from the Will County Sheriff's office. Fire marshal investigators determined that Borg set the fire that caused the home he had shared with Anne Gay, 52, to explode about 9:15 p.m. on July 14.

Gay was reported missing June 22, but relatives said they had not heard from her since June 9. She had been moving out of the home she rented with Borg in an unincorporated area near Joliet when she disappeared, authorities said.

"The Sheriff’s Office has continued to investigate Ms. Gays’ whereabouts, however, no new leads have developed that have aided us in solving this case," Will County Sheriff's spokesman Deputy Chief Ken Kaupas said in the release.

On July 14, the East Joliet Fire Protection District responded to a fire at 9:13 p.m. where Borg had still lived, according to authorities and Fire Chief Robert Scholtes. State Fire Marshal investigators determined the fire was an arson set by the boyfriend.

When firefighters arrived, they found the boyfriend outside the two-story home with burns on his body, said Scholtes. Paramedics took the man to Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox in serious condition. He was later transferred to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood.

The gas line from the dryer inside the home may have been intentionally cut and the valve was left wide-open, according to the Will County Sheriff’s Department.

Officials had a difficult time battling the fire because there weren’t enough fire hydrants in the area. One neighbor said at the time that the entire roof of the home was blown off and was lying in the yard while the home burned.

The couple's dog was found underneath the rubble, under its doghouse, and it survived.

Borg is being held in lieu of $750,000 bail, pending a hearing at the Will County Courthouse at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to the sheriff's office.